All Leaders Are Readers?

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." Â Harry S. Truman.

You think this is true?

Do you really believe in this?

And if you do, then how often do you read?

Not the usual â¬Ëjunk' that we see all around us, but real stuffâ¬Â¦ Â Which could make a differenceÂ inside you. Make you change yourself - for good.

I am assuming that since you are reading this, you areÂ a readerÂ already.

I am sure you know that there are blogs all over the internet on almost any imaginable topic, some of them written by great personalities, people you would have to spend a lot of money to even watch, let alone meet in person.

And the good thing is:Â These blogs are 100% free!

You can subscribe to them through email orÂ RSS feed. There are free softwares for RSS feeds, I useÂ Newsfire and love it. Thanks to one of my GurusÂ Seth Godin.

I think my life changed after I began to readÂ regularly.

As a child I used to read a lot. Mostly trash. Yes, you read it correctly: Trash. As in novels & fiction and stuff which I shouldn't be reading..! Please don't ask meÂ more!

But then it changed. Life had its own demands. And I almost quit reading for more than two decades. (Yes, I am ancient. And loving it!)

"Only fifteen minutes a day. Thats it," saidÂ Mr Kamran Rizvi, yes The Kamran Rizvi (Kambha to most.) This was at least 6 years back when I was attending one of his â¬ËOut Of Box Thinking' workshops in Karachi.

Among a lot of other brilliant things he taught us in a day, he taught us to readregularly. And THAT is the idea. Regularity. Consistently. As if your life depended on it.

He said, make sure you skip your dinner but not your book.

And hence, I started reading. But, thank God I didn't miss any of my meals.. Orâ¬Â¦.? But, I got into this awesome habit of reading. Reading anything from self development books to stuff that caught my fancy.

I began to read ebooks, book summaries - thanksÂ Farhad Karmally for introducing me toÂ www.bizsum.com -Â and listen to audiobooks. Not to mention hundreds of blog posts & articles that I have subscribed to.

And it changed my life - forever!

One single habit. Fifteen minutes a day. And you are blessed for life.

Imagine, how simple.

Today, I want you to promise yourself: Read at least 6 pages from any book. Or read for 15 minutes. Every evening before going to bed. It can be ANY book.

Errâ¬Â¦Don't skip a meal or you will never forgive me!

If you are already a reader but read lot of fiction (which btw most people do!), then try reading something different. A little different than fiction. A book that you always wanted to read but didn't get around to it. Or got busy. Or simply became lazy. Pick up that book today & start reading.

Now!

Or read a blog. Google your favorite topic and read the first blog that it searches. You never know, you could hit pay dirt & become a fan/follower for life.

I assure you: If you could do this for 21 days consistently, your life will be way different & better than you could have ever imagined.

Not a bad deal for giving away only a fraction of your time to achieve greatnessâ¬Â¦Right?

Try it, it doesn't cost you anything. (Except a few episodes of your favorite TV show, or repeated news on your favorite News Channel which is usually of no value to you anyways!)

I have received comments on books being very expensive nowadays and its difficult to keep buying them.

I agree 100%.

And the alternatives that immediately come to mind are:

Go to a library near you and borrow books. (You will have to return them in time!)

Have a group of friends who want to read the same book and then share.

Or better, join a book club, or even better create one for your like-minded friends. Everyone shares their ideas on a weekly/monthly basis on a book or several books. And in the end, these books are exchanged.

Go to an old book store near you and get your hands on bargain deals, I do it pretty often.

There are a lot of free ebooks online which you can read/download easily without feeling guilty.

There are websites which offer free book summaries, one of the good ones is www.wisdomfrombooks.com by a very dear friend, Malik Mirza. Check it out and you will get hooked to it.